Thales Australia has announced that it is partnering Engineers Australia in order to accredit Thales Australia’s workforce in line with new state government guidelines.
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It is expected that partnership spurred by new government regulations in Victoria and NSW will bolster the expertise of the prime’s engineering workforce by providing some 250 members with the Chartered accreditation.
The prime currently employs almost 1,000 technical and engineering employees across the country.
Dr John Best, chief technical officer of Thales Australia, noted that the changes will support new engineering compliance rules.
“The partnership with Engineers Australia would support compliance with state based legislation that requires professional engineers to be registered,” he said.
“This partnership is about more than achieving compliance – it is about actively participating in the Australian engineering community to maintain and advance engineering practice.
“As technology development cycles become shorter, it is critical that organisations, like Thales, that deliver mission critical solutions to both defence and civil customers, continuously strive to maintain state-of-the-art knowledge. The continuous professional development obligations that come with recognition through Engineers Australia drive our individual staff, and us as a company, to continuously improve.
“Ensuring that our engineering workforce is professionally credentialled is a way in which we can communicate to our clients, to industry and to the wider community that we’re committed to delivering highly engineered solutions that are safe, secure and will meet the performance needs of the end users.”
Dr Bronwyn Evans, chief executive of Engineers Australia, explained that accrediting engineers helped to build public trust in the profession.
“We are delighted to extend our partnership with Thales,” she said.
“Credentials, like Chartered, are important for the role they play in maintaining public trust in the engineering profession. It’s also essential to ensure engineers are prepared to address the increasingly complex challenges faced by Australia and the world.
“At a time when more states are moving to mandate registration of engineers, achieving Chartered status demonstrates an extra level of commitment to achieving best practice.”
[Related: Thales Australia and Western Sydney University win space research funding]